A Little Coyote
by TweakerWolf
Summary: Scott has just recently 'shocked' Malia back into her human form; she's been reintroduced to her father but things aren't quite working out at home so she spends much of her time in the woods. It's on one of those trips that she runs into Stiles. Before long Stiles becomes the one person that she likes/trusts, so he takes on the responsibility of teaching her how to be human again.
1. Finding Malia

A/N: I want to warn everyone now, I'm going to be taking a few liberties with this story, such as how Stiles and Malia interacted when she was a coyote and in general how her mental state gets dealt with. It's fanfiction and I can do with it what I want! heehee, but in order for some things to work, you might notice a few impracticalities and I hope they aren't too big of a deal (I know some people are sticklers for fact). I hope you enjoy this story, I know a lot of people are upset with how Malia's character is being handled/was introduced/just don't like her. This story is about how I think she should have been written, while still giving her a strong connection with Stiles. Why Stiles, because he's my favorite and he's kinda the problem solver on the show, so who else might get stuck 'babysitting'? Remember, this is a PLATONIC relationship, this will not turn into a dating thing.

* * *

Setting/Background: Scott has just recently 'shocked' Malia back into her human form; she's been reintroduced to her father but things aren't quite working out at home so she spends much of her time in the woods. It's on one of those trips that she runs into Stiles. In this story, Stiles is not going to be affected by the Nogitsune and I'm not sure if I want to write any of the Nogitsune drama into this story… Since the story will be focusing on Malia, and also Stiles, I figure they really don't need any drama going on. So more than likely it will be the gang trying to figure out how to recover from the havoc the Alpha pack and the Darach caused.

Malia couldn't believe that she was stuck at home again, it was painful. How come no one else realized that she didn't want to be there? She was surrounded by all those old memories, memories that had almost faded… Her hands clenched into fists as she ran them through her hair, her mother, her sister… all that blood. When she was a coyote, at least she could pretend to drown them out, and she was able to cry her heart out and the creatures of the forest joined her. Her howl had been beautiful, and now she was stuck with this raspy human voice she barely even remembered how to use… Dad said she used to love singing, and that maybe with time she'd pick it up again, but no sounds she made were like her coyote singing. And the worst part, she couldn't tell Dad what had really happened to her. Sheriff Stilinski said he wouldn't understand, and that it would just be easier to tell everyone that she had been lost in the woods all this time-that by some miracle she had been found. Some miracle her tail! Life back then had been easy, after awhile of course.

It had taken her awhile to learn how to cope with all the differences, the world was so strange when you started roaming around on all fours. She had missed her thumbs for awhile, and now that she had them back… she wished she didn't. Everything was so cold now too, that was probably the worst part of it. No matter how many layers of clothes she wore, it just wasn't the same as her nice fur coat, and they smelled funny too! Malia sighed, dropping down onto the forest floor, laying her head in the fallen leaves. She breathed in deep, letting the smell of the wild calm her; her fingers drew small circles in the loose dirt, the dark material easily burying itself under her fingernails. As she started to calm down, she heard the chattering of the birds stop, everything went silent for a moment. Malia sat up, straining her ears to listen, ready to run away at the first sound of danger. These human ears felt almost useless! But she could still hear things well enough, and she trusted her instincts so when she heard a faint sound of footsteps, she sat up.

Not many people wandered in the woods, it wasn't particularly safe, especially after people had started dying. Malia shivered as she remembered the dark force that wandered around a few months ago, even now she could feel her skin prickling at the thought of coming into contact with it. But these footsteps were clumsy and erratic, and if she listened close enough, she could just make out someone mumbling under their breath.

"Damn it Scotty, why am _I_ the one that's out here? I don't know anything about finding a werecoyote! It's not like I have super wolf senses, what good am I?"

Malia ducked behind a tree even though the person was still yards away- he was looking for her? And Scott, that was the boy that changed her back! Everyone had been expecting her to be thankful, to be human once more, but they didn't understand! What was this human doing out here anyways, what did they want with her? The noises came closer.

"I swear Scott, you owe me big time for this! I mean, it's not like Malia even knows me or anything. Even if I do run into her, she's probably going to just disappear on me, being a stranger and all."

Malia bit her lip, she had caught most of what this boy was saying, the time spent at the police station, the hospital, listening to Dad- she remembered a lot of the language. But speaking it was more difficult than listening to it; but she did know this boy was looking for her, because Scott wanted him to. She peered out from behind the tree and saw the other boy, the one that had been with Scott and the Sheriff. She smiled, he was the one that made her laugh when he made a comment about curly fries. Apparently it was a surprise to everyone that Malia knew what curly fries were, but then again a lot of people forgot that coyotes were scavengers, eating whatever they found. Malia wasn't above admitting that she'd picked through some garbage during her furry years. So when she smelled the fries she had whimpered and grabbed a handful, stuffing them in her mouth-they were her favorite human food, but they weren't easy to find on the outskirts of the forests.

"See, curly fries are so awesome, even a werecoyote can appreciate their deliciousness," Stiles had said. She had laughed because it was true, the first time she smelled them, she thought they were amazing. Oh and the taste, even better than the smell, if that was possible.

The sound of a sudden gasp and the silence of the footsteps brought Malia back to the future, the boy had spotted her. Her fingers tightened into the bark of the tree, suddenly afraid to be seen- what if he wanted to take her somewhere and have people run experiments on her?

"Hey Malia," he called out softly, knowing that she could hear him. "I'm Stiles, do you remember me? I was at the police station with everyone. The Sheriff is my dad."

Instead of answering him, she ducked further behind the tree, only peering out with one eye, making sure that he didn't try to sneak up on her.

Stiles sighed, "Maybe I should have brought food with me…"

"Food?"

Stiles's jaw dropped, he had been expected her to have run away by now, but here she was, poking her head out from behind a tree, eyes wide. "I can go get food if you want? Are you hungry Malia?"

Shyly, the young teen nodded her head, she had barely eaten anything this morning; she had just wanted to get out of that house, with it's strange smells and be out in the forest again.

"What would you like? Hamburger?"

Malia bit her lip, hamburgers were nice, as long as it didn't have all the stuff on it, but how could she tell him that?

Seeing that she was troubled by something, Stiles crouched down and eased back onto his butt. He wanted her to know that he wasn't going anywhere while she tried to figure this out, nor was he going to get any closer than she was comfortable with. Just by looking at her, he could tell that she was having a hard time transitioning; she had that 'wild' look in her eyes. Not the typical kind you hear people talk about, refereeing to serial killers or anything, but just the look of a wild animal, full of wariness and curiosity.

"Maybe not a hamburger?" he asked.

"Hamburger yes, no… no stuff," Malia croaked out, waving her hands in frustration.

"You don't want fries?" Stiles asked in disbelief.

"Fries, yes fries," Malia assured him, eyes widening in fear, then a small breath of frustration through her nose.

"Okay, let's see, you do want a hamburger and fries, but no…stuff?"

"Only meat on hamburger!" Malia cried out, figuring out a way to tell him.

Stiles smiled, finally understanding, "Okay, so you want a _plain_ hamburger, meat only, with the fries."

Malia collapsed against the tree in relief, nodding her head quickly, talking with others usually took a lot of out her. "Yes… please" she barely remembered to add on.

Slowly Stiles stood up, holding out his hands when Malia started to back away from him, "It's okay, I'm not going to come any closer. I have to go back to my Jeep, to pick up the food, is that okay? I promise I'll come back with your food."

Hearing his steady heartbeat, Malia gathered that he was calm around her, and calm usually meant honest. Unhonest people were usually nervous and were sweaty and their hearts raced. So she nodded and watched him as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Um, would you maybe want to come with me? Not, not to go get the food-" Stiles quickly added on, seeing the fear in her eyes. "It's just that, well, I don't know if I'll be able to find my way back here. So if you follow me back to my Jeep, you'll be able to see when I come back. Then I won't get lost out in here in the woods."

Malia tapped her fingers against the tree, should she follow him? What if he was leading her into a trap? But he was calm, and calm meant honest. So slowly she came out from behind the tree and nodded once, she'd follow him. Stiles nodded at her and turned around, talking slow but sure steps. He didn't seem too worried that she was always about 10 feet away from him, just in case something bad happened, she'd be able to run away. After a few moments, he decided to talk to her, still keeping his voice low.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm out here looking for you," he started, knowing that she had probably heard him talking to himself. "Your dad is worried about you is all, he doesn't know what to do to help you. And Scott overheard him talking to some of the nurses at the hospital when he was visiting his mom. So of course he said that we should come out here and look for you."

"Where's Scott?" Malia asked quietly.

"Out with the rest of the gang of course, Scott is trying to figure out what to do with Derek. He's a mess, considering he lost two of his Betas… well three if you count Isaac joining up with Scott. Man, Pack dynamics is really confusing, be glad you don't have to deal with it."

"Pack… right."

Stiles continued to tell Malia a little about his rag-tag group of friends that were basically a pack; he figured she probably wasn't really interested, but it gave him something to do. After all, Stiles wasn't known for being a quiet church mouse, besides it was probably good practice for her right? It was maybe another 30 minutes at their slow pace before Stiles came up to the side of the road he had parked at.

"Okay, that's my Jeep, so I'll head into town and get us some food okay, then I'll come back. You don't have to stay right here next to the road, I know the cars are probably really loud. I'll call out when I get back okay, so you know it's me."

"'K."

He waved as he climbed into his blue vehicle, Malia backing off as he started it up, wanting to cover her ears but not wanting to appear weak either. As soon as the Jeep was out of sight, she backed further into the woods, letting the familiar surroundings comfort her. She found a mossy log to sit on while she waited, closing her eyes and let the sounds of the forest fill her head. Occasionally a car would zip by and startle her, always jumping to her feet and preparing to run, but they all kept going. So she'd sit down once more to wait. She didn't have much of a grasp of time yet, so she had no idea how long Stiles was actually gone, so she felt strangely relieved when she heard him calling out her name. Malia did her best to stay seated at her log, but as he came closer she stood up and started fidgeting, feeling nervous about having him come close.

"I'm just going set your food down by the log okay? Then I'll come sit over here, is that okay?" he asked.

A quick nod, hands wringing together; as he took small careful steps closer, Malia bounced from foot to foot. When he was about 3 feet away she whimpered and took a few quick steps back, she couldn't take it. So he stopped right there and placed her bag on the ground, along with a water bottle. Then he took a few steps backwards and found another log to sit on. Malia licked her lips as the smell of the food wafted over, eyes moving from the bag, to Stiles, and back. Her hesitance only last a few moments before she bolted to the log and sat down, pulling the bag into her lap. She started to pull out the food, barely getting the wrapper off before biting into the burger (hey coyotes don't mind paper here and there). As she chewed her food, she could suddenly hear her mother, back when she was 5, chastising her for not remembering her manners.

"Th-thank you," she managed, looking down at her food.

"No problem, I know what it's like to be hungry for a good burger every now and again," Stiles answered nonchalantly.

He watched as she tore into her burger, eating the whole thing before even reaching for the water. She struggled a bit with the cap, but she didn't look to Stiles for help so he didn't offer any. He understood how much of a pain it could be when you wanted to do something on your own and have everyone think you needed help. He smiled when she yipped in triumph, opening the bottle and raising it to her lips.

Malia figured there was some things that were better now that she was human again, it was much easier to drink water efficiently, and it was everywhere! She put the cap back on the bottle and started scarfing down her fries. It wasn't long before she could hear Stiles snickering, mouth and nose hidden behind his hand as he watched her. She tilted her head, wondering what was so funny.

Stiles couldn't help but laugh, she looked like such a little kid the way she ate- truthfully he probably looked about the same when it came to those fries but hey, they were good! She had no qualms about being dainty or dieting, it was refreshing to see. Stiles knew that Malia wasn't normal in a lot of ways, she had spent most of her crucial 'feminine' years alone, as a coyote. So of course she didn't know anything about carbs and fatty foods, or that stuffing 13 fries into your mouth all at once was 'un-ladylike,' and it was nice. And when she looked at him, with that small tilt of her head, he flashed back to the first time he had seen Malia, back when she was a coyote.

-Two weeks previously-

Stiles and Scott were out in the woods, looking for the old crash now that his dad was sure there was something supernatural about this case. When they had found the crash, Stiles bent down and found an old tattered doll. He had showed it to Scott but Scott hadn't been able to get anything off of it, so he continued to wander around the site, hoping to find some other clues. As he was crouching, digging around some of the brush, he heard a growl- looking up he came face to face with a coyote, teeth bared. Stiles slowly stepped back, Scott came flying around the car but Stiles stopped him with an open palm; Scott didn't have to come save him from every wild creature did he?

"Easy there little guy, no one wants to hurt you."

The coyote snarl, clacking its teeth together and shook it's head; it kept looking at the doll in his hands, then looking back at him with angry eyes. It didn't take Stiles long to realize that the coyote wanted the doll, so he placed it carefully on the ground and backed away. Within moments the coyote ran forward and picked up the doll before dancing away. As it climbed to the top of the small ravine, it looked back at them and its eyes flashed blue.

"Malia?" Stiles asked.

She whined, looked around confused, but shook her head and ran off. Stiles looked to Scott, a werecoyote?

-Back in the woods-

"Sorry for laughing Malia, it's just nice to see someone who eats food like I do. Most people consider that rude, just stuffing your face like that. But I mean, it's delicious, how can you not put as much into your mouth as you can?"

Malia's eyes brightened, glad that he wasn't going to get mad at her like Dad always did; in the wild, you didn't have time for niceties, not when someone might come and take your dinner. Her shoulders dropped as she relaxed, watching Stiles stuff some of his hamburger into his mouth and moan. The first dinner she had at home was awful, Dad ate everything so slow and the food tasted funny. She was used to some human foods, but there was a lot that she didn't get her paws on as a wolf, so heavily seasoned foods were still strange to her. And the 'lemon pepper chicken' from that night-ugh.

They sat in silence while they finished their food, the slight rustling of wrappers was the only noise. When she finished, Stiles gently reminded her to put all her trash together, they didn't want to be littering. As she stuffed all of the trash back into the original bag, she watched Stiles from the corner of her eye, he was drinking something different and it intrigued her. Slowly she maneuvered herself closer, hands fidgeting with the bag as she stopped herself from bolting. Stiles noticed her coming closer and kept all of his movements slow, really only breathing and twirling his soda cup in his hands.

When she was about a foot away, she finally pointed at his cup, "What's that?"

"Soda, it's called Pepsi. Do you want to try it? It's very different from water," Stiles explained.

Malia put her bag of trash down next to Stiles's pile and carefully lowered herself down onto the log next to him, "Smell?"

"Sure," Stiles nodded, reaching up and popping the top off. He held the cup out for her to take, watching as she held it up to her face and sniffed.

Her noise twitched at the bubbles popped and splashed small amounts of the liquid onto her face, she had no idea how to describe this substance, so she turned to her companion, "Taste like?"

"Um, that's… really hard to explain… It kinda tastes like Coke, but you don't know what that is either, never mind. It's sugary, and sweet, and the bubbles tickle your mouth. You can try it, see what you think."

Malia bit her lip, it smelled strange, and she had learned to stay away from strange things, strange usually meant dangerous. But she had watched Stiles drink this and he was fine, so maybe this stuff wasn't dangerous, just new. As she stared into the cup, she tried to remember if she'd ever encountered this before, all those years ago, but she didn't remember ever tasting it. But she could remember begging her mom to let her try some soda (she couldn't remember what kind) but her mom kept saying no, that it had too much sugar in it. Now her mom wasn't here to tell her no, and she had nothing to lose. So she brought the cup up to her mouth and drank; she almost spit it right back out. The bubbles surprised her, even though Stiles had said they'd tickle, she hadn't been expecting that! She held it in her mouth, letting the bubbles pop while she tried to figure out the taste. As she swallowed, there was a tingling sensation at the back of her throat that brought the smallest of tears to her eyes- another surprise.

"Good, or bad?" Stiles asked.

Malia licked her lips and pondered the answer, "Different."

"Yea, that's understandable, and Pepsi is only one kind of soda, there are many other flavors. All of them have the bubbles in them, but some taste more like fruit, others just taste, like everything. Dr. Pepper is definitely hard to pin down on the flavor scale," Stiles rambled on, not wanting her to feel weird about the new drink. He watched as she took one more small sip, hearing her swish it around and saw the moisture in her eyes, causing him to smile.

"You know how your eyes are kinda watery?" he asked, waiting for her nod before continuing. "I get that too, not all the time, but if it has been awhile since I've had soda, my eyes do that too. I think it's from the bubbles but I don't know for sure what it is."

Stiles could see Malia relax a little as he spoke, probably thankful that she wasn't the only one that reacted to soda like that. She handed the cup back and looked down at her hands, not sure what to do now.

"You like it out in the woods don't you?"

"This is home," Malia stated simply, looking at him.

"Is that why you spend so much time out here? Being in the house, with your dad is scary?"

Malia shrugged, "Not scary… just… different. Can't hear birds or crickets, can't smell air."

"Maybe we can talk to your dad about getting you a tent?" Stiles suggested.

Malia gave him a blank stare, not really understanding what he was talking about, so he hastened to explain, "They are like portable, fabric caves; you set them up outside and they give you shelter, but still let you be in the fresh air."

"Yes, tent, will try!" Malia exclaimed.

Stiles tried to hold back his smile, he could tell that every time Malia got excited, she started to cut out some of her words, sticking to the bare minimum to get her point across. "Let me call Scott and let him know that I found you, that you're okay. Then maybe I can walk you home?"

Malia snorted, "big girl, walk alone."

"I know you can walk alone, just that if I walk with you, then I can help convince your dad about the tent thing."

Stiles could see her thinking it over, slightly torn from the embarrassment of being walked home like some kid, to having help talking with her dad. In the end, Stiles won and she nodded her head, "Yes, okay."

She waited for him to stand, garbage in hand before she followed him, he seemed like an okay person, but she wasn't going to just turn her back on him. They walked in silence, Malia too busy listening to the words of the forest to participate in any conversation. It took them maybe a half hour before they reached her yard, and her dad could be seen just inside, pacing around the house through the windows. He must have seen movement because he glanced up and saw them both walking up to the house and he ran out the back door.

"Malia, there you are!" he cried out, jogging over to them.

His sudden movements startled her though and she dove behind Stiles, hands tangling in his shirt.

"Hey Mr. Tate, uh-"

Shit," Mr. Tate muttered under his breath, "Sorry, I forgot, fast movements startle you. I was just worried, you keep disappearing on me, you don't tell me where you go. I keep getting scared that I'll lose you again."

Malia whimpered and looked up at Stiles, "Too fast."

Stiles held up a hand to slow her father down before shifting to look at the girl hiding behind him. "When you leave, he worries. You don't tell him when you go outside and he thinks you got lost again. It scares him, understand?"

She blinked a few times, not really understanding why she needed to tell this man- Dad- when she left. But she did understand that he was scared for her, and that next time she was supposed to tell him when she left. "Sorry. Will tell you next time D-dad."

There was a moment of silence as Malia slowly came out from behind Stiles, although she still held onto his shirt with one hand. When it appeared that her dad had calmed down, she moved on to the next subject. "Get tent, outside."

"What?"

"Get tent, stay outside," Malia smiled.

"She wants to buy a tent, so that way she can be outside more, where she is more comfortable," Stiles explained.

Mr. Tate sighed, "Malia, why do you want to be outside? You've been lost in those woods for years, you barely remember how to be a girl, I'd think that you'd never want to step foot in there again."

As he spoke, his voice rose of its own accord, his frustration peaking, causing Malia to shrink back again.

"Mr. Tate, I-" Stiles started, before being interrupted.

"And another thing, who are you, just appearing with my daughter after all this time. I know you're the Sheriff's son, but that doesn't give you any right to go traipsing through the woods with my innocent little girl!"

Stiles gaped, mouth opening and closing, this was _not_ how he had hoped this would go. Before he could say anything in his defense, Malia spoke up, angry.

"Stiles is nice! He feed me, talk with me! I like outside, air, birds, crickets… Inside is… Inside is… strange! No like! Want to stay outside! Tent!"

Stiles reached out and grabbed her hand, calming her down, "Easy Malia, it's okay, no need to yell. Use your words, complete sentences."

Malia huffed, she really didn't understand why she had to use 10 words when 3 would suffice! Human's mode of speaking was just not efficient at all, she missed being a coyote! But, she knew Stiles was trying to help, and she was supposed to be a big girl now, she was a teenager! If she threw a fit, then she might not get what she wanted, she had learned that long ago; it may have worked that way in the wild, but this was home now… even if it didn't feel like it. So she started again.

"I like outside, outside is, is like home for me. I like, the air, and the birds talking, and the bugs, all of it. Inside house, is too quiet, too," she gestured with her hands, making them press in on herself, "too close! Outside, there is space," she punctuated her statement by opening her arms wide and spinning in a circle. "Tent would let me stay outside, and be in a shelter, please."

"I really think it would be a great compromise Mr. Tate. I can't imagine how the last few days have been for you or Malia. After 8 years… that's a lot of time to overcome. She is used to being in the woods, she feels like that is home now, can you imagine living in such an open place for years, then being told you have to stay in one spot, with walls around you that don't smell like home? At least with a tent, you could know that she's safe when she's sleeping, and Malia, do you promise to always tell your dad when you want to go for a walk?"

"Promise," Malia nodded. "Please tent," she asked beseechingly.

Mr. Tate dropped his shoulders, "I'll talk to the therapist about it. If she thinks it's a good idea, then we can get you a tent."

Malia yipped in excitement and jumped around the yard, she'd get to stay outside! As the two guys watched her jumping around, Stiles's phone went off, causing the teen to slap his forehead.

"Damn, I forgot to call Scott, I bet that's him." Stiles pulled his phone out and answered it. "Hello. Hey Scotty, sorry I didn't call sooner. Yea I found her, she's back at her house now. No, she was perfectly fine, just felt like going for a walk, didn't tell her dad she was going out. Oh yea, I'm surprised she didn't run away from me either. Is that Dad I hear? Could you tell him I'll be home in a bit, I've got to walk back to my Jeep and then I'll be on my way. Thanks man, see you later."

As he was putting his phone away, Mr. Tate walked over to him, "You were out looking for her?"

"Yea, not to like intrude or anything, Scott was at the hospital when he heard you talking about how Malia is always disappearing and you were worried about her. So being the good citizens we are, we split up and looked for her. You know, just to make sure she was safe."

He nodded his head, "Well thanks, sorry for what I said a moment ago, I'm just… stressed and worried. What if… what if someone else had found her… some predator?"

Stiles turned and looked back at Malia as she ran around, knowing that her primal side was just under the surface, "I think she can take care of herself. She did survive all those years on her own. She's a tough girl Mr. Tate."

"I know she is, but she's still just a girl, still so innocent; there is so much she doesn't understand. Hell you're the first person that she's really even talked to besides me. And I get the feeling she only talks to me is because she has to. So it's all short, clipped sentences. She doesn't talk to her therapist, just sits there and, growls. Now only did you get her to talk, you got her to use full sentences. How?"

The younger male shrugged, "I honestly have no idea."


	2. Counseling

A/N: Quick thing, I tried to find any reference to Malia's sister's name... couldn't find it, so in this fic, her sister is going to be named Kaya (which means sister haha). Just wanted to tell everyone to avoid confusion.

* * *

-Stilinski home-

"Hey Dad, Scott, I'm back," Stiles called out as he came in the front door.

"How did it go, I know you couldn't really say much over the phone," Scott asked from the living room.

"Not bad in some ways, could have gone better in others. Malia didn't run away at the sight of me, which was good. I kinda bribed her with some food, but it worked. So we had an early lunch out in the woods and I offered to walk her home and talk with her dad. Malia really likes being out in the woods you know, it's like her home. She feels too confined inside her house, says she can't smell the fresh air, or hear the birds and it bothers her. So I mentioned maybe getting her a tent, so she can sleep out in the yard, Mr. Tate will know that she's at least safe. And I even got Malia to promise to at least tell her dad the next time she wants to go for a walk."

Scott and the Sheriff both stared at Stiles, eyes wide.

"What? Why are you staring at me? Do I have ketchup on my face?" the teen asked, wiping his face.

"No, no, it's just… you got all of that from Malia?" John asked. "As in, she spoke with you."

Stiles shrugged, "Well yea, why wouldn't she?"

"Maybe because she doesn't like talking to anyone," Scott laughed. "Mom was telling me about how she hasn't said a word to her therapist, just sits in the corner and growls at her. Which of course is scaring the therapist but considering we know the truth, we're more worried that she might… lash out."

Stiles shook his head, "Malia won't do that, she's just scared… can you imagine being shuttled to this strange place and being forced into a room with some strange lady asking you questions that you can't talk about? I'm not surprised she's defensive. She can't even tell her dad the truth you know, he might lock her away and just say she went crazy."

John and Scott looked at each other, knowing Stiles was right; that was why they told Malia to keep quiet about it in the first place. They knew it wasn't going to be easy for her, but truthfully, they hadn't been expecting it to be this hard. In order for Malia to start behaving normally, she had to open up, but she couldn't really do that when she had a huge secret.

"Hey, Dad, why don't you call Mr. Tate, tell him that you know a counselor that might be able to help Malia. That she's very patient and good with traumatized teenagers," Stiles blurted out suddenly.

"Well I could, but who exactly would I be sending her to?"

"Ms. Morrell, and she knows all about werewolves and such, so Malia would actually be able to talk about her time in the woods, the _real_ story."

Scott clapped his hands together, "God, Stiles you are a genius! I never even thought about Ms. Morrell. She'd be perfect… although she can be a little shady, I don't know if I'd want Malia to be alone with her, you know what I mean?"

Why not?" John asked.

"Well, she can be kinda intense, and very, obtuse when it comes to giving advice. I can see how she might end up confusing Malia even more. She… she doesn't take sides and believes in maintaining the balance, so if she knows something about Malia that we don't, who knows what she might say. And she's a big fan of keeping things to herself until she's backed up against a wall, then she'll still only tell you the bare minimum. Totally frustrating," Stiles explained, walking over to the couch and sitting down.

"Yea, it is, but we also can't deny that she's been helpful when we really needed someone. And we don't really need supernatural help with this, we need a therapist, but at least a therapist that won't assume Malia is crazy. So Ms. Morrell has no reason to be, obtuse about helping Malia," Scott countered.

"Well, it can't hurt to try, I'll call Ms. Morrell first and see if she'll actually talk with the girl. Then if she agrees, I can call Mr. Tate and suggest it to him. That's the best we can hope for right now," John told them, already walking to his office to make some calls.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Scott sat down next to his best friend, "Do you really think Malia won't hurt anyone? I mean, she was pretty scared and nervous when she first changed back, but if we start forcing this stuff on her, she might freak out and go coyote."

"I get that it's a valid thing to be worried about, but I don't think Malia will. Ms. Morrell might push her a bit, to get her to talk, but even if Malia does coyote-out on her, I think Ms. Morrell knows how to handle herself. I'd be more worried about her hurting Malia, that poor girl needs someone she can talk to you know?"

"Well, she has you apparently," Scott told him, patting his friend on the back.

-Tate home-

Malia could hear her dad talking on the phone although she wasn't particularly interested in who he might be talking with. Just as long as he talked with that lady so she could get her tent. She sat on her bed, looking out the window and thought of Stiles; he was really nice, and gentle around her. But he didn't baby her, and she really appreciated that, she wasn't a baby! Her dad always seemed to forget that, he was either treating her like a little girl, or like an adult, like he couldn't make up his mind. Malia was smart enough to admit to herself that she wasn't an adult, not really, she was barely a teen after all. But just because she wasn't an adult, and she wasn't used to being around humans, didn't mean she was a baby either! She growled in frustration, she'd never really be able to explain it to him either, she had to keep everything a secret. It wasn't hard to understand why, he'd probably hate her if he found out that she was the reason that Mom and Kaya were dead. She could barely live with that as it was, she couldn't expect her dad to still love her if she admitted something like that.

It wasn't long before she felt the tears rolling down her face, the images of her mother and sister burned into her memory, knowing that she was responsible. Not wanting to alert her dad, she grabbed her pillow and stuffed her face into it, letting out her sobs. It was a few minutes before she felt the wave of remorse pass, at least enough that she could quiet her sobs. She wiped her eyes with the back of hand, thinking of just one more good thing about being a coyote- you didn't shed any tears. Now she was sitting on her old bed, sniffling, with puffy eyes and she just felt miserable. Shaking her head, she tried to rid her mind of the awful memories, tried to bring back the memories of just being in the forest, of being free.

But instead her mind went back to Stiles, she remembered how easy it was to just be with him. She couldn't quite explain it to herself, she had no reason to feel any safer around him than any other human. It had to be because he didn't try to push himself into her personal space, not like her dad did. It's true that she missed him, and that deep down she loved him, but after all those years being away from him, it had become too hard to face him. Now that she was back in the house, he always wanted to hug her, talk to her, and Malia didn't know how to do those things any more. But with Stiles, he just stayed still –mostly- and let her be the one to determine how close they got. He didn't demand conversation from her, Stiles was more than happy to just be the one talking, but could still respect when she wanted silence. How was it that he seemed to understand her so much after just one afternoon?

Even when she had run into him at the old car in her other form, he picked up on the fact that she wanted the doll back, that he shouldn't be holding it. So he gave it back, and he had stopped that wolf from attacking her, which was considerate of him, knowing that as a coyote she could have eaten his face. There was just something about him that didn't make her hackles raise, and that was a first for her. Down the hall, she could still hear her father on the phone, and she had just managed to pick up 'hold on a minute, I'll go ask her,' before she wiped her face once more went back to looking out the window.

There was a quiet knock on her door before her dad opened it, phone held against his shoulder, "Hey Malia, Sheriff Stilinski says that he knows a good counselor, she's worked with a lot of traumatized kids around your age. He knows you've been having trouble with Miss Thomas, would you like to try this new lady?"

Malia concentrated on what he was saying, glad that he had remembered to speak slowly. It was true that she didn't like Miss Thomas, she smelled nervous and nervous meant unhonest in her mind. Besides, she had to keep everything a secret, so there was no point in telling that lady anything. But if Sheriff Stilinski was suggesting someone new, did that mean she knew about the secret? But she couldn't really be sure, and what if this new lady wasn't nice? It was all too much for her, she frowned up at her dad, unsure what to say to him. Malia could see in his eyes that he wanted to help her, but didn't know how. He was clearly hoping this new lady would work out. So what did she have to lose? Nothing really, but she couldn't go alone this time.

"Stiles come too?" she finally asked. "Don't want to go alone. Stiles is nice."

Malia realized that she had upset her dad by asking that, the way his face just dropped, but she had no idea what she said wrong, so she waited for him to speak. But instead of saying anything to her, he relayed the question to the person on the other line. After a brief pausing, he turned back to her and affirmed that Stiles would go to the appointment with her.

"Thank you."

"Of course Sweetie."

After the door closed, Malia played back the short conversation in her head, needing to know what she said wrong. She had agreed to go, she didn't throw a fit… all she wanted to know was if Stiles could go with her. And that was when Dad looked sad… Did he not like Stiles? Thinking back to a few hours ago, she remembered how he'd gotten mad at Stiles for being in the woods with her, even if he was being nice. That was probably it, he didn't like Stiles, and that made her sad. But, she needed him to go with her, she just felt, calmer, knowing that he'd be there. That should be enough for Dad, and hopefully this new lady would be okay with it too.

Deciding that she could take much more of this silence, she walked to the back door, remembering at the last minute to tell Dad she was going outside.

"Dad, going to sit outback."

"Okay, don't wander too far away, I'll call you when dinner is ready."

Satisfied with his response, she opened the back door and laid out on the grass, letting the afternoon sun warm her skin. She stayed like that, just listening to the world, until it was finally time for dinner. Malia prayed that is wasn't anything to spiced up this time.

-Stilinski home-

"Okay, I called Ms. Morrell, and Mr. Tate, Malia has an appointment tomorrow at 3:45. I've also called Coach Finstock and got you out of practice tomorrow Stiles," John announced, coming back into the living room.

"Alright! Wait, why?" Stiles asked, suspicious.

"Because you're going to go to the counseling session with Malia tomorrow," he answered, matter-of-factly.

Stiles just stared at his dad. "Why?"

"Stiles, she specifically asked if you could go, she obviously doesn't want to go to meet some new person by herself. And Malia has said more to you voluntarily than she's ever said to anyone else. For some reason, she trusts you, so you're going."

"Okay, okay, I'll go. It's just a little weird is all. But if she asked me to go, I'll go. Is it going to be at the school?"

"Yea, we all figured that 3:45 would be late enough that most of the students would have left already and they wouldn't make her feel any more nervous that she already does. You could probably meet her out front with Ms. Morrell and go from there."

"Alright, let's hope Ms. Morrell can get more out of her than that other lady did," Stiles sighed. Secretly he felt a little glad that Malia wanted him to be there with her; he was more than a little nervous about leaving anyone alone with Ms. Morrell, let alone a girl as lost Malia.

-Monday, after school-

Stiles wished Scott luck at practice and went out to his Jeep, since he had some time to kill he figured he might try and get some work done. He pulled his English book out of his bag and climbed into the front, casually tossing the book bag onto the backseat. Flipping open the book, Stiles started to read the assigned chapters, vaguely wondering how many laps Coach was making the team run today. Three short pages later, Stiles tossed the book back into his bag and huffed, he was way too nervous to read right now. So instead, out came his phone and he played Angry Birds for the next 20 minutes; after he got frustrated to the point of almost throwing his phone he looked up and saw Ms. Morrell standing out at the drop-off zone of the parking lot. Guess it was time to go wait for Malia to get here; Stiles took a deep breath and got out of his car. As he walked away, he wondered if maybe he should bring his back pack with him but decided against it.

"If anyone wants to break into my Jeep for my _homework_, they can freakin' have it!" Stiles muttered, "As long as they don't scratch my baby."

"Good afternoon Stiles," Ms. Morrell greeted as he stood next to her.

"Hey, thanks for seeing Malia on such short notice. I'm sure this will be better for her."

Marin studied him, "Why do you think that?"

"Well, you're a counselor and Malia needs counsel. You just also happen to be aware of the supernatural going-ons in Beacon Hills, so her secret doesn't have to be a secret in these sessions. Right?" Stiles asked, suddenly afraid she had something else in mind.

"So this isn't because you, or maybe Scott, want to find out more about Malia and her transformations?" Marin asked, brow raised.

Stiles gaped at her, unsure of what the counselor was really trying to get at… he just wanted to help Malia get better, and Scott hadn't even thought of coming to Ms. Morrell. But before he could ask any of the hundreds of questions that just sprang up, a car pulled up, Malia in the passenger seat. As soon as her eyes landed on Stiles, she broke out in a grin and climbed out of the car. Well, she tried to, but she forgot about the seat belt and ended up tugging on the confining material.

"Hold on Malia," Mr. Tate said, reaching over and unbuckling her, flinching as the metal clasp flung around and pinged against the side of the door.

"Hi Stiles!" Malia chirped, standing next to him.

"Hey Malia, feeling good?" Stiles asked.

Malia nodded her head, beaming; she was outside in the fresh air, of course she was good. But then Stiles gestured to the lady standing next to him and Malia came crashing down, she had to pretend to like this woman…

"Malia, this is Ms. Morrell, she's a counselor here at the school. She's helped me and my friends through a lot of hard times, I think you might like her," Stiles introduced.

"Hello Malia, it's nice to meet you," Marin said, as soon as Stiles finished.

Malia took a small step back, nostrils flaring as she attempted to catch the woman's scent; when she did, she was confused. She smelled earthy, and powerful, instantly calling up images of trees and dirt. It was slightly confusing, she had never met a human with this scent before, but she had to be human, she definitely didn't smell like a wolf or any other creature.

"Stiles, why don't you go ahead and take her to my office while I talk with Mr. Tate for just a moment okay?"

"Yea, sure."

Stiles gestured for Malia to follow him, but she was obviously hesitant to turn her back on this stranger; they ended up doing an awkward crab shuffle all the way to the doors of the school. Once they were inside though, Malia's attention shot to her surroundings, fearfully stepping closer to Stiles.

"Many smells, lots of people stay here," Malia said, hands finding their way to the back of Stiles's shirt.

"Well this is school, remember school from when you were younger? You learn all sorts of things like math and science, play sports maybe."

Malia took a few small steps into the large building, letting Stiles slowly steer her in the right direction as she took everything in. "Remember school, a little bit. I liked… rocks and min…minerals- Earth science!"

"Yea, that stuff is fun, chemistry sucks though. But you won't have to deal with that any time soon. Here's the office, let's go sit okay?"

Malia nodded, sitting seemed okay, even if it was in a small room- at least she wasn't alone.

"Hey Malia, I just want you to know, Ms. Morrell, she knows about your secret, and Scott's secret too. She's safe, so you can tell her the truth okay?"

"Is, is that why Sheriff say to come here instead of Miss Thomas?" Malia asked, eyes brimming with curiosity.

"Yea, we figure this way, you can tell her the real stuff and she can help you; since you know, you couldn't tell the truth to the other lady."

Stiles could see Malia relax just a bit with that knowledge, at least this lady wouldn't call her crazy, and maybe she could help. But Malia didn't know what to talk about… what was wrong with her that she needed to talk to this new lady?

"Okay, are we ready to get started?" Marin asked, suddenly appearing in the classroom, startling both the teenagers.

Malia's hands fidgeted in her lap while Ms. Morrell sat down and studied the girl, "Malia, do you know why you're here today?"

Malia whimpered, already feeling nervous around this woman; as Marin continued to scrutinize her though, Malia's hackles raised and she growled quietly. Marin didn't react at all, just continued to stare. Stiles intervened, knowing that Ms. Morrell was up to something already.

"Malia, it's okay, remember, she wants to help you. But you have to talk to her okay. She's looking at you because she's waiting for an answer, she isn't challenging you. She is just giving you her undivided attention."

Malia huffed, not liking this 'undivided attention' as Stiles put it; the way those eyes studied her…it made her feel like she was a bug, about to get eaten. But, Stiles was here with her, and she wanted to get better… whatever that meant…

"Here to talk," Malia stated.

"Talk about what exactly?"

"I… I don't know."

"No one has told you why you should see a counselor?"

Malia thought back for a moment, trying to remember what the doctors had said. "For my head, to make sure inside my head is okay," she answered slowly. "Why would the inside of my head be bad?"

Marin smiled briefly at the girl, glad that she was being honest and not hiding her confusion, "Well, our minds can be very fragile, sometimes they are easy to break and very hard to fix. And you were out there alone for 8 years, with no one to talk to. That can make some people broken on the inside, and I'm here to make sure that you are okay."

"Broken how?"

"Well, sometimes, when a person is alone for too long, they forget how to talk with others. Was it hard for you to learn how to speak again?"

"A little bit. Still… learning," Malia admitted, tilting her head. She was intrigued by this lady, but at least she was able to answer Malia's questions.

"For some people, it's very hard, learning how to talk again. Other people, they start talking to themselves, to keep away the quiet They can create friends, which they talk to so they don't feel alone. Then when they are with people again, they have trouble understanding what is real and what isn't," Marin explained slowly… she knew that there was so much more that happened to people that were isolated, but this seemed like the easiest way to explain it all to the young girl.

When Malia had fully processed the words, she turned towards Stiles, suddenly afraid that he wasn't real, and that's why Dad was so upset with her bringing him here. "Stiles?"

"Stiles is very real, don't worry Malia. I don't think you have that problem. See when humans get isolated, certain things happen to their minds. But you… you didn't spend that time as a human did you?"

She shook her head, "No, I was a coyote."

"Yes, so for you it is different. Other people, start having a hard time figuring out what might be real, or what isn't real. But for you, your problem is going to be much different. You have to learn how to be a human again."

"Be human? I am," she stated, holding up her hands and wiggling her fingers, in slight disdain.

Marin shook her head, "You're human on the outside, but are you human on the inside?"

Malia watched as Ms. Morrell tapped her head, getting the point across. On the inside, in her mind, she still wanted to be a coyote. She growled when she was scared or angry, she was always sniffing everything- walking around on two feet didn't feel right! But her body wasn't shaped properly to let her walk on all fours again. "What if… what if I want to stay coyote?"

"You can learn to be human, and coyote, like Scott, or Derek. Just because you are one, doesn't mean you can't also be the other. Don't you want to make friends? Aren't you tired of being alone? As a coyote, you didn't make friends, and everything was an enemy or it was food. But as a human, you can make friends, not everything is an enemy."

Malia brought her feet up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around her legs, this was too much already. How could she be a coyote and a human? She either had her fur or she had thumbs, there was no both! "No, don't…understand. Want… coyote!"

Stiles knew that Malia was close to the edge, her speech was sounding more rushed and unsure, but Marin kept pushing.

"Why do you want to be a coyote so bad? Why not human, like Stiles? What is bad about humans?"

"Stop!" Malia yelled, covering her ears with her hands. All these questions… being human was bad, weak! As a coyote, she was fast, agile, brave. As a human, she was scared, defenseless, useless. She couldn't hunt in this body, her senses weren't as sharp, her teeth were dull! Useless! Coyotes were better, they didn't have human memories… Memories...Thoughts from back when she had first transformed, all the horrible memories flooding into the front of her mind. She had been terrified and in pain, nothing was the same, and there was screaming, so much screaming! She remembered the crash and the blood, remembered not really knowing what was happening…

"Malia, what is so bad about being human?" Marin pressed, ignoring Malia's obvious distress.

"I think she's had enough…" Stiles tried to intervene, but Marin held up her hand… she could tell the girl was close to admitting the root of the problem. As much as it was hurting her now, the sooner they opened this wound, the sooner it would heal. It wasn't hard to imagine what was bothering Malia… what horrible memory plagued her, the memories she tried to escape by staying a coyote.

Malia, you have to tell me, why would a coyote be better?"

"Because! Because then no more bad memories! Coyote have no family, coyote alone! Keep self safe, no one else! Coyote strong, human weak, humans die… I killed them!" she finally cried out, her mind racing… she didn't even remember the question, all she knew was that she couldn't stop thinking about her mom, about Kaya. She stood up, knocking the chair to the floor and started whimpering and snarling.

"I killed them! Dead! All dead! Coyote can't hurt Dad! Malia hurt DAD!" she wailed, crashing to the floor on her knees. She was afraid, she was going to hurt Dad this time. She knew, as a coyote to stay away from people, people were dangerous… as a person, she was living with Dad… what if she changed again and hurt him this time? Every time she saw Dad, she saw Kaya, Mom… she saw the tears in his eyes. She could smell his sadness, it clung to him like mud, there was no getting rid of it. Just by coming home, she hurt him and it wasn't her fault, she hadn't wanted to come home at all!

Stiles couldn't take it anymore, he slid down to the floor and cradled Malia, calling out her name in hushed tones. She clung desperately to him, fingers digging into his arms as she sobbed. The whole time Marin stayed behind the desk and just watched, taking in everything. It was awhile before Malia's sobs quieted down, and Marin suggested that maybe they go out to the lacrosse field, let Malia get some fresh air.

"Yea, that's a good idea, but what about Mr. Tate, won't he be back to pick her up soon?" Stiles asked, slowly helping the younger girl to her feet.

"I'll need to talk with him, and he knows how to find my office, so that will give you two some time. Mr. Tate and I will come get you after we've talked about everything."

Stiles nodded, "Hey Malia, does outside sound good?"

A pitiful whimper met his ears but Malia nodded her head, so he carefully led her to the back of the school and out onto the field. Malia lifted her head when she felt the little breeze, but paused when she saw the boys all running around.

"It's okay, they won't bother us, we can go sit on the grass way over there and just watch," he suggested, leading her further away from the racket. The more steps they took, the calmer Malia became, taking deep steadying breaths; they sat, Malia not really watching the practice but looking up at the clouds instead.

"Aww, come on Scott, Danny was wide open, how did you miss that?" Stiles muttered under his breath after awhile, startling his companion.

Malia couldn't help but tense, Scott is the one that made this happen, she didn't want him coming over here to try and talk with her. But she did look over at the field, watching the small ball get tossed back and forth. "Playing what?" she finally asked, not liking the quiet… it gave her time to think.

"It's called lacrosse, I'm on the team too actually. It's a lot of fun, but I'm not very good at it. Scott has gotten way better since the, you know, the Bite. Totally not fair in my opinion, now I have nobody to warm the bench with."

Malia watched, intrigued as to what the point was, but she supposed fun didn't need to have a point. How many times had she chased butterflies around, snapping at them, but not really trying to catch them? She was sure she probably looked silly to any humans watching, so this probably wasn't any different.

"Do… do you want to talk about it Malia? Because I'll listen; only if you want. I just.. I just want you to know that you can talk to me too, and not just Ms. Morrell okay?" Stiles told her, looking at her, hoping she understood.

"No talk now about it, head… mind hurts, heart hurts. But Stiles is… friend? We talk later about stuff?"

"Yea, we're friends, and we can talk whenever you want to, promise," Stiles smiled.

* * *

A/N: I know the correct word is dishonest, but I'm sticking with 'unhonest' for awhile, at least when it comes to being inside Malia's thoughts. I don't plan on using too many grammatical errors when it comes to her thoughts/speech, but clearly her grasp of the language isn't going to be perfect. And I want the reader to remember that, so I'm including the errors in her thoughts and not just her speech. Just wanted to prepared everyone for that, hope it isn't distracting. Also I know that most of Malia's thoughts are blended together or jump from topic to topic and that can be confusing... I want to capture Malia's frame of mind, but I'll do my best to have Stiles or Marin explain in their own words about what Malia is feeling. So if you can't quite understand all of Malia's thoughts/words, just be a little patient and it will be explained later (in the very next chapter this time, I promise) in fuller/more complete sentences. If you have any questions, feel free to message me =)


	3. Visiting Friend

-Counselor's Office-

There was a quiet knock on the door, right on time, "Come in."

Mr. Tate walked into the room and looked around, alarmed that his daughter wasn't here.

Marin spoke, calming him, "I asked Stiles to take Malia outside, so that way we could talk. Please sit."

"That means it either went well, or awful…"

Marin smiled, "I think it went well. The session didn't last long, it didn't take Malia long to just break down. I can't go into details about what happened," Marin explained, holding up a hand when Mr. Tate opened his mouth. "I know she is a minor, and that you're her father, but the fact remains that this is a delicate situation. I think it is best that you don't ask her too many questions about how the session went. I don't think she's ready to talk to you about it, honestly she only admitted it in here because she became overwhelmed. When I feel like she is better able to handle the stress, we can have a family session and the two of you can discuss everything, is that reasonable?"

"Yea, I think so. But you promise if something… bad comes up, you'll tell me?"

"Like thoughts of suicide? I am required to report, at my discretion, if a patient is becoming a threat to themselves or others. If Malia is feeling that way, I'll be sure to enlist your help in lifting her up. But I think she's just very confused and lost, 8 years is a long time."

"Yea, you're telling me… But as long as she's talking to someone, I'm happy. I don't know what makes you different, but I'm glad she opened up. That's more than she ever did with Miss Thomas. I'll have to thank the Sheriff for recommending you."

"I think… Stiles had a lot to do with it. It might pain you to hear this but, Malia… she needs someone her own age to talk to, she is a teenager after all. Mentally she may be a little behind, but her mind has also chemically developed, she's isn't quite trapped as a nine year old. So she can identify with Stiles, in some ways, that she just isn't comfortable with you or me. I think it would be a good idea for her to spend more time with him; I can vouch that he's smart and responsible. I think just by being around him, Malia will start to open up and be more comfortable around people. We don't want to push her too quickly, but seeing as how she has already become attached to him, it wouldn't hurt to use that friendship."

"Do you think that's a good idea? I mean… I'm sure Stiles is a great kid, but… he's a boy. Shouldn't she be hanging out with, you know, a girl?" Mr. Tate asked.

"I don't think that's completely necessary, not if she's comfortable around him. Once she starts to become more relaxed, we'll start introducing her to more and more people, but she will be easily overwhelmed if we move too fast. Let's just take it slow and be glad that she's even made one friend."

Mr. Tate nodded, "Yea, okay. So, you want her to hang out with Stiles more, how will that work?"

"Well, after you leave, I can talk with Stiles and see what he's open too, he has to be willing to commit to this as well. After we talk, I'll call you and let you know the situation."

"Okay, that's reasonable. And you think he'll be up for it?"

Marin smiled again, "Let's go get Malia."

-Outside-

Malia smiled at Stiles, "Friend."

Malia felt warm inside, hearing Stiles agree that they were friends… Maybe Ms. Morrell was right, being alone isn't always fun. She knew that if something were bothering her, Stiles would help her out, she wasn't on her own anymore.

"Thank you, for being friend," Malia whispered, leaning over and hugging Stiles's arm. She ducked her head as she leaned in, but Stiles still caught the distraught look on her face.

"Hey, what's wrong Malia?" he asked.

"I… I don't think Dad likes you…"

Stiles frowned, "What makes you say that?"

Malia took a deep breath, preparing herself for the long explanation, "Well, I asked for you to come to meeting with me. Dad looked sad, but still asked. Stiles come because new lady make me nervous… Don't want to go alone. I, thought Dad would be happy; I didn't throw a fit, or cry- I agreed to come…"

"You'd come if I came with you. So when your dad asked if you'd meet with Ms. Morrell, that's when you asked if I could come too?"

"Yea, and he got sad face. Did I say wrong thing? Dad not like you? Stiles is friend now… why Dad no like?"

Stiles thought for a moment, trying to picture the scene as Malia explained it; he was sure that Mr. Tate wanted to help his daughter, He was probably a little dubious about how Ms. Morrell would be any better than the previous therapist, but it couldn't hurt to keep trying. Malia agreed to go, with no problems, but asked if he could accompany her… And that's when he got upset, but he didn't tell Malia why. Then it dawned on him; he had seen that face before, on his own dad.

"Malia, I think your dad got sad for a different reason. Did his face look like this?" Stiles asked.

When Malia turned to look at him, Stiles did his best impression of his father's sad, disappointed face. Mouth was turned down on one side and his eyes were downcast and slightly closed, then he let out a deep sigh.

"Yes, like that. How you know?" Malia said.

"My dad made that face when I went to therapy…"

"Stiles go to talk too?" Malia wondered, small frown pulling at her lips.

"Yea, my mom died a few years ago, actually it was around the time you uh, disappeared. I was always sad, I couldn't eat, and I started worrying about my dad dying. That was when the panic attacks started. So I went to therapy, and I was like you, nervous about going… what was I going to tell some stranger? How could I make them understand what I was feeling inside?"

"Yes!" Malia agreed.

"I found out that just talking, about everything going on in your head, and in your heart, it helps. Even if you have a hard time putting it into words, talking about it helps you figure everything out. But when I went to therapy, I asked if Scotty could go with me. He's my best friend you know, we've been together since 1st grade. I figured, if Scott was with me, I had no reason to be afraid."

"And Sheriff made sad face?"

"Yep. I didn't know what it was at first either. But later, I found out that it was because he was sad… sad that I didn't ask him to go. If I needed someone to go with me, why didn't I ask him? Family is supposed to help each other out in times like these. But he knew that someone my own age would be better for me, someone that wasn't family. It… it can be hard to talk about your feelings around your family," Stiles explained.

Malia nodded, "Easier talk with friends."

"Yea, a lot easier. So I think your dad was just sad too, because he wants to help you get better. But in order to do that, he has to let you go, he can't always be by your side, does that make sense?"

Stiles watched as Malia took in his words, teeth chewing her lip as she thought. After awhile she nodded and smiled at him.

"Just happy Dad no not like you," she admitted. "I explain to Dad about friend and talking," Malia decided, wanting Dad to understand. She didn't like it when he was sad. Happy with Stiles's explanation, she leaned her head back down against his arm, getting comfortable.

Stiles just nodded and ran his fingers through her hair, he knew that Scott loved that, so he wasn't surprised when Malia sighed contentedly. He was glad that she had decided to tell him about her dad; he didn't want her to be worried about their friendship. It wouldn't do to have Malia thinking that she couldn't be friends with Stiles and then get even worse because of it. And she was going to try and explain it to Mr. Tate as well, and Stiles knew that her dad would reassure her. They were sitting like that, Stiles still playing with her hair, when Ms. Morrell and Mr. Tate came outside to get them.

"Malia, you're dad is here," Marin called out.

Malia sighed but stood up and walked over, not really feeling all that eager to go home. She waved to Stiles and Marin and then followed her dad back to the car; Marin waited until they had driven away before asking Stiles to come back inside. Once they were seating in her office again, she explained what was going on.

"Stiles, I talked with Mr. Tate and we feel like you should spend more time with Malia. You are obviously the only person she's close to right now and we don't want to ruin that. We feel like you could really help her come out of her shell. I'm going to talk with the principal and see if I can at least get you out of classes this week. Not sure how Coach Finstock would feel about you missing practices though."

"Wow, you really want to help her don't you? I mean, if you think I can help… I'm all for it. But what about when the week is up, what are we going to do?" Stiles asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. What I'm going to have you do though, is slowly start getting her used to being around people… just Scott and the others, not large groups. If we can get her used to being around more than just one person at a time, that's good."

"And what are we supposed to do in the mean time? I mean Scott and all of them are still going to be in school, so that's like… 8 hours. Well, I guess that depends on what time Malia and I actually start hanging out."

"I'm sure she'll be excited to come over first thing in the morning, so don't plan on sleeping in. Do whatever she feels comfortable with, but don't be afraid to push her comfort level, at least a little bit."

"Like riding in the car with me, or having her speak full sentences, stuff like that?"

Marin nodded, "Yes, and maybe even read to her, or have her try to read. Find new things for her to enjoy besides running in the forest. The sooner she finds more human hobbies, the sooner she'll be able to adapt."

"Gotcha." Stiles stood up, getting ready to leave. "Wait… can we talk about what happened? In the session I mean?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, I mean, Malia did… kill her mom and sister right? And she remembers that… Is there any way she'll get over that?"

"No, but she can come to terms with it. Her eyes are blue now, it will be with her the rest of her life, but she needs to let the guilt go. I'm hoping that by getting her to talk about it, she'll realize that she wasn't in control of what happened."

"You think that when she is open to being 'human' that she'll realize that coyote part of her was in control?"

"Maybe, I know it took Scott awhile to come to terms with what his wolf wanted him to do. Malia, in her young mind, couldn't cope with the memories of what happened and in order to escape them, stayed in her shifted form."

Stiles slowly nodded his head, "That makes sense I guess, she was only 9, that's a lot to try and deal with… I get that she wanted to run away from all that. But what was she talking about when she said that she hurt her dad?"

Marin sighed, "She probably meant a few different things. She's afraid she's going to hurt him, like she hurt the rest of her family. She's probably even more afraid that he'll find out the truth and be mad at her; as estranged as they are, she still loves her father. It would be devastating if he shut her out. Then there is the fact that Mr. Tate… he's still hurting; all these years later, he finds out his daughter has been alive. It's amazing, but by seeing her… he's reminded once more of what he lost. Who he knows for a fact won't come back to him. Whenever he looks at her, he probably feels an overwhelming sense of grief."

"And Malia picks up on that, with her Were-senses. She probably doesn't fully understand, but she knows that just by being around Mr. Tate, she's causing him to be sad. Poor Malia," Stiles said, looking down at his hands.

"Exactly. That's why I want you to help her out as much as you can. If she wants to talk to you about her feelings, that's fine, I trust that you know how to deal with that. Just don't force her to talk-"

"Like you did!"

"I'm a professional, it's okay if she gets mad at me, you're her friend, you need to be gentle. And that wound needed to be opened, now we can start working on it so it will heal properly," Marin chastised.

"Yea, sure. That was still mean though."

Marin shrugged, "I did what needed to be done. Just like I always do. Any other questions Stiles?"

"No, I guess I'll go home and clean up or something, if Malia is coming over to hang out first thing in the morning… Bye Ms. Morrell."

Stiles walked out to his Jeep and finally messaged Scott, 'So, that was intense… And I get to help socialize Malia, I hope she doesn't mind being stuck with me as her teacher.'

By the time he got home, Scott had replied, 'just don't push her too fast man, we don't need her to go feral on us.'

'Rude Scott… I'm capable! I'll be the best socializer ever, watch me!'

With that, Stiles looked around his room, it wasn't too messy… but what the hell were the two of them going to do all day?

-Tuesday Morning-

The alarm went off, 8 o'clock, time for Stiles to get up and get ready. He groaned as he looked at the time, was it morning already? Ugh… but at least he'd gotten to sleep in for about an hour. And technically he didn't have school at all today, so that was a definite plus. He had about an hour before Malia was supposed to get here, at least according to Ms. Morrell. Time enough to shower and find something to eat, as long as he didn't fall asleep in the shower that is, Stiles was still pretty tired. To keep himself from falling asleep, he went over his options of what to do- there was drawing, maybe reading, what else? Maybe she'd be interested in watching T.V.! Stiles could at least hope. Hell, maybe she'd want to learn how to cook, Stiles could work with that. He might not be a master chef, but he was more than capable of a lot of different dishes. By the time Stiles had started to towel off, his mind had moved on to breakfast, well food in general.

Stiles hurried to get dressed, realizing he'd been in the shower for over thirty minutes; apparently he couldn't wash and brainstorm at the same time. As he toweled off his hair, Stiles decided that he was going to make some pancakes, and maybe even some bacon if Dad hadn't gotten to it this morning. After a quick stop to his room to get some clothes, Stiles bounded down the stairs and went into the kitchen, finding all the necessary ingredients and bowls. Within minutes he was happily humming away as he stirred the batter, pouring himself a couple of large pancakes and then flipped the sizzling bacon. He set out the syrup, butter, and utensils, then plated his food.

"Mmm, it has been too long since I've made pancakes," Stiles muttered to himself as he covered the golden cake in syrup.

He was about halfway through with his breakfast when he heard a car door pull up and the excited yipping meant Malia had arrived. Stiles pushed his chair back and went to answer the door as she started knocking erratically.

"Stiles!"

Stiles had barely even opened the door before it was pushed all the way open and the girl stormed her way inside.

"Malia, Ma-" Mr. Tate sighed, coming up the walkway. "Don't crowd the poor boy," he called, watching as his daughter bounced around the entryway, Stiles's eyes opened wide.

Stiles laughed though and welcomed her, "Good morning Malia."

She finally started to calm down as Mr. Tate reached the doorway, her nostrils flaring as she looked around the hallway. When Stiles nodded his head at her, she took a few tentative steps further inside, exploring the house.

"Thanks for agreeing to do this, Ms. Morrell seems convinced that this is the best way to help her," Mr. Tate said.

"It was a surprise to me, but Ms. Morrell told me that since Malia trusted me, I could really help bring her out of her shell."

"What are you guys going to do today?" Mr. Tate asked, needing to know that his daughter was really going to be safe here.

Stiles shrugged, "I guess it depends on what she wants to do, I mean, I have some art stuff here, don't know if she might want to draw stuff or whatever. We can cook if she's interested I suppose, or maybe even try reading. But we'll definitely be here, I don't to overwhelm her and take her someplace new, ya know?"

"That's a relief, um, here's my number, call if anything comes up or if she wants to come home early," the older man added on, holding out a piece of paper.

"Oh, I feel totally rude, I should probably give you mine, in case you want to call and check up on her. Come in, I'll write it down for you, house and my cell," Stiles gestured, backing up so he could come inside.

Stiles tore off a piece of paper from the notepad by the phone and scribbled down the numbers while Mr. Tate wandered further into the house to say goodbye.

"Malia, what are you doing?" Stiles heard the older man say. He looked up from the paper and saw Mr. Tate standing at the entrance way to the kitchen, mouth set in a frown.

Stiles walked into the kitchen just as she was answering, "Food smell good, I eat."

She was sitting that the table, syrup covering her fingers and the corners of her mouth. Stiles couldn't help but smile as she took another piece of his breakfast and popped it into her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I tried to give her some breakfast but she said she wasn't hungry, she was just so excited to come over," he apologized. "Malia, that was Stiles's breakfast."

Malia face fell, she hadn't realized she was taking food from Stiles, she pushed the plate away, "Sorry." She hadn't thought, out in the wild, if you found food, you ate it before someone else came and took it from you.

"It's okay Malia, I can make more, I still have batter left. If I had known you might be hungry, I would have prepared some for you."

Cautiously, Malia pulled the plate back towards her, waiting for one of them to stop her. But when Stiles smiled at her, she started eating again, glad that he hadn't gotten mad at her for stealing food.

Mr. Tate took the slip of paper from Stiles, shaking his head, "At least try to get her to use a fork… I'll be back around 6 to pick her back up, is that okay?"

"Yea, that will be fine, if we end up eating dinner here, is that okay?" Stiles asked in return.

"That's fine, whatever you want to have, or if she isn't hungry, she can eat when we get back home too."

Stiles went to the fridge while Mr. Tate said bye to his daughter, pulling out the leftover batter. After he left, Malia came up to Stiles, wanting to really make sure he wasn't mad.

"Stiles not mad at me?"

Stiles turned to face her, "No, I promise, not mad. See, I have the stuff to make more pancakes. Although in the future, remember to always ask before you eat food that is sitting out. Some people might not understand that you don't know better."

Malia nodded her head, repeating the instructions, "Always ask before eating at people's house."

"Want to help me make more? Are you still hungry?"

Malia brightened, answering yes to both questions. Stiles had her wash her hands, so that way she wouldn't get syrup on anything and then showed her how to pour the batter.

"And see how it is starting to bubble? That means it's ready to be flipped, so you take the spatula, and slide it underneath and then, you flip!" Stiles explained as he easily flipped the pancake.

Once that one was done, he helped Malia pour the next pancake, congratulating her when it came out in a nice circle. Then he worked on eating the fresh pancake as they waiting for new one to start bubbling.

"Is bubbles," Malia stated seeing that the pancake was ready to flip, but was holding the spatula in two hands looking unsure.

Stiles stood next to her and helped her slide the spatula under the pancake, and then showed her how to turn her wrist to flip it. She held her breath as she slowly lifted the spatula and tilted the pancake; Stiles knew it was going to fold over, it always did when you flipped it too slow, but he wanted her to do it on her own so he didn't step in. As he predicted, it slid of the spatula a little early and the edge of the pancake got folded over, but it landed in the pan so he cheered for her.

"Not right," Malia pouted.

"It happens, you just need practice. Just be happy you landed in the pan, the first time I tried to make these, I flipped it too hard and half of it went on the stove!"

Malia giggled at the story, imagining how messy that must have been; she felt better knowing that for her first flip, it hadn't ended as disastrously as it could have. And since she was in charge of this one, she got it eat it, happily flipping it onto her plate and letting Stiles show her how to use the knife to spread butter on it.

"Now, since the syrup is sticky, you have to eat it with a fork okay? You can take the knife and cut it up into small pieces like this," he explained, cutting a few pieces before handing the utensils to her.

"'K," Malia agreed, awkwardly fumbling with the knife as she tried to copy what he did. Her tongue was sticking out as she concentrated, but after a few attempts, she found a good way to hold the fork and it went faster after that.

"Good?" Stiles asked as she took her first bite, smiling as she did a little dance, waving her hands in small circles as she chewed. Malia nodded, remembering that talking with food in her mouth was rude, Dad had told her that many times.

"Meat too?" Malia asked after she had swallowed, remembering the salty strips that had been on Stiles's plate the first time.

"Oh yea, I can't believe I forgot about the bacon," Stiles said, smacking his forehead.

Malia watched as he pulled a long package out of the refrigerator, licking her lips as he pulled a few strips out.

"I'm sure you don't mind undercooked meat, but I'm sure it isn't too good for your stomach as a human, so we're cooking this. But cooking bacon is a little bit harder, well, cooking it isn't hard, but… well you'll see."

Malia tilted her head as she watched him put the meat in a different pan and turned on the heat. It took longer to cook than the pancakes had, but it smelled so much better, it's aroma filling the kitchen as it heated up. She listened as Stiles explained that you flip the bacon as well, but that you had to be more careful. As the meat started cooking, there was grease, and that got hot very easily and popped; if it got on your skin, it burned. Normally the pops were small, but it still hurt pretty bad since it was so hot. Malia could tell that he was slightly nervous; outwardly he appeared calm, but she could smell just the smallest amount of apprehension on him every time he went to flip it. The first time the bacon let out a loud pop, it startled her, making her growl at the pan in surprise, Stiles smiling a little bit.

"See, bacon likes to bite back," he commented. "That's why they always say, never cook bacon without a shirt on, don't want to burn your tummy."

As the meat cooked longer, Malia started inching towards the pan, wanting to eat it already, but if Stiles said it wasn't done yet, she'd wait. Finally, he started taking them out of the pan and put them on a paper towel, still making her wait to eat them. She grumbled as he pulled a few more pieces off the pain, flinching when the grease popped again.

"Ah, crap," Stiles yelled out, shaking his arm.

Malia whimpered and looked at his arm, touching it to make sure he was okay, and he was quick to reassure her, "It only burns for a little bit, see, it didn't even leave a red mark. It just always surprises me is all."

Malia glared at the pan, blaming it for Stiles's pain, that wasn't very nice! But Stiles didn't appear afraid, going right back to removing the pieces of bacon from the pan. When he slapped her hand away from the plate, Malia questioned why she couldn't eat it yet, well maybe she demanded to know.

"Because it's still hot; I know you have super-healing but you can't really enjoy the flavor if you have burnt taste buds. Don't worry, it will only take a moment to cool. Then you can eat it I promise," Stiles explained. He hadn't even thought about it when he had slapped her hand away, it was just something he was used to doing with Scott and his dad, so when Malia started demanding access to the bacon, he realized she could have easily taken his head off. Thank goodness she really felt comfortable with him, he remembered a few close calls with Scott when he had first been bitten. He had to remind himself to be a little more careful around her; it probably wasn't easy to keep her inner instincts in check if she was overwhelmed. But thankfully, Malia just rolled her eyes and waited, trusting him to know what he was talking about. When he finally offered her the plate, she grinned widely and grabbed a piece, stuffing it into her mouth.

Once they finished eating, Stiles had Malia help him wash everything, happy that she liked to play in the soapy water. After everything was set in the drying rack, Stiles wondered what she might want to do, they still had quite a few hours together. Malia dutifully followed Stiles into the living room, wondering what he was going to show her next.

Stiles turned towards her, seeing her expectant face and scratched the back of his head, "I'm not sure what you might want to try next. Any hobbies that you remember that you might want to try, I can probably find most of the typical stuff here in the house."

Malia shrugged, "What Stiles normally do?"

"Well, normally I'd be at school learning stuff, or if it was during the summer, I'd be sleeping still," he laughed.

"Nap!"

"You, want to take a nap? It's only like 10 o'clock."

"Was up early, can't sleep inside much. Wake up when sun is out."

Stiles gaped at her, "You've been up since sunrise? Wow, you are quite the early bird. If you are sleepy we can take a nap. That's fine, I won't say no to that."

Malia hummed in approval, taking off and running upstairs, heading straight for Stiles's room. By the time Stiles caught up with her, she had grabbed his top blanket and was working on creating a nest.

"How did you know this was my room?" he asked.

"Smells like you, other room smell empty, or like Sheriff; this room must be yours," she explained, not looking up from her project.

"Hey, if you make your little den right in the middle of the bed, where am I supposed to sleep?"

"No sleep in nest?" Malia asked, tilting her head in the usual fashion.

"No, I take up the whole bed when I sleep, I lay out like a starfish."

Malia looked at the blanket she was sitting on and then back at Stiles, unsure of how to continue. So Stiles took the initiative and sat down on the bed.

"I'll lie here, on the edge, and use this pillow, and you can make your nest next to me, however you are comfortable, sound good?"

Malia nodded her head and waited for Stiles to get comfortable before she shifted the blanket to her new spot. It was a little oblong, definitely more oval shaped than circular, but it would do. As she curled up next to his side, Stiles felt slightly nervous, was this okay? They were just napping, Stiles thought it would be on the couch, but then she found his room and settled in. They weren't doing anything, just sleeping- Stiles would never take advantage like that, not that she was even thinking about those things. Still, he was fairly certain that Mr. Tate would probably shot him if he were to walk in on this. But his brain was already starting to slow down, his bed really was comfortable, and Malia was making this happy almost purr noises as she settled down.

"Comfy?"

"Almost," Malia admitted. Stiles bed was narrow, more so than her own, but it felt more comfy to be surrounded by Stiles's scent. Her bedroom still smelled dusty to her, unlived in, and she just couldn't find it in her heart to scent the blankets. It still didn't feel like home, so she had no reason to make it smell like home. But here, Stiles was friend, and friend was safe! Stiles was warm too, that was even better. At first she felt a little nervous about napping, when she realized Stiles would be right here, but it faded fast. He was trustable, and gave hugs, so he was ok to be this close. She pressed her back against his side, humming deep in her throat at his warmth, almost comfortable. As she closed her eyes and let her body relax, she searched for the perfect spot for her head, but the pillow was too cold, wasn't right. Instead she tilted her head back and lay on Stiles's chest/shoulder.

"Now comfy," she slurred, already close to sleep.

Stiles unfolded his arm from under his head and wrapped it around his companion. From the awkward position, he felt like he was almost strangling her in the crook of his arm, hand way overreaching her shoulder, but Malia smiled and snuggled in closer, so he assumed she was comfortable. It was only a few moments before he was out like a light, Malia right behind him, lulled by his heartbeat

* * *

A/N: Hooray, Malia learned how to make pancakes and now they are napping together! I decided to go for a nap since I think it will help the two of them bond a lot. Clearly Malia is used to being on her own so to invite a friend to sleep with her (when she is most vulnerable) will mean that she will connect with Stiles a lot more. Already his scent comforts her, and since this is her first friendship, she's going to form a very strong bond with Stiles, which might cause some drama in the coming chapters. But nothing too bad, I promise. Hope you enjoyed the cuteness! I loved writing this part.


End file.
